Stargate!!!

We have had several divers doing some Specialty dives lately. Last week one of our guests, along with Jeff and Divemaster Fede took the short flight down to one of our most spectacular dive sites . . . Stargate. Stargate is an inland blue hole only accessible by plane. The dive is 120 feet deep and is one of the most incredible dives you will ever do!

 

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Captain Bills In-Land Blue Hole Clean Up

Group Picture of helpers on the day

Mel

                                                 

                                                 Joe

Aidan

                               

                                          Silt and Algae where all the trash was hiding

On Saturday 25 September the dive masters of Small Hope Bay Lodge helped clean up Captain Bills In-Land Blue. We found The following is what we collected:
Plastic bottles: 21
Glass bottles: 742
Aluminum cans: 458
Shoes: 4
Pull tabs : 5
Toys; 2
Shut gun shells; 1
Bait containers: 1
Buoys/ floats: 1
Ropes : 3
55 Gallon drum; 1
Lighters; 2
Chair: 1
A big thank you to Gabrielle from  Ancat  Andros Conservancy and Trust for organising it all. All so a big thank you to Andros Island Divers, Greenforce, Forfar and Bahamas National Trust for their help.

55 Gallon Drum 

Pulling up the trash

Sorting the trash

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Andros Island Blue Holes.....

Diving an Ocean Blue Hole

Blue Holes are unique geological formations created over thousands of years and multiple glacial and interglacial periods.

There are many types of Blue Holes, but they are essentially caves that formed in a air environment when sea levels were low as a result of  glacial retreat. When the ice retreated the caves flooded and this process of being dry and flooded was repeated several times over as the glaciers came and went.

In Land\Ocean Blue Hole Conch Sound Andros Island

As the caves tops grew thinner from erosion or experienced mechanical stress many of them collapsed leaving large holes often leading to hidden cave systems. These holes got the name Blue Holes due to the fact that the bottoms of the collapse is deeper than surrounding land and when viewed from the air appear rich blue in colour in the ocean, some are dark blue and even black in appearance inland. The inland Blue Holes collect a less dense freshwater lens on top of the ground seawater and are connected to the ocean Blue Holes by cracks and fissures typical of the limestone composition. Imagine a sponge.

Diving an Ocean Blue Hole

The tide moves seawater back and forth between the inland Blue holes and the ocean Blue holes via these cracks and fissures during the high and low cycles of the tide.

Often the Blue holes have strong inflow and out flows as water is exchanged. The cooler hypoxic/anoxic inland water (caused by oxygen dissolving into the limestone)flows out of the ocean Blue holes and this mixes with the warmer sea water. Where the two meet it creates a mixture of haloclines, chemoclines and thermoclines often referred to as a "density interface"

Each Blue Hole has its own personality and offer an opportunity for divers to experience a glimpse of the past geology and formations. Proper training is a must to dive these beautiful structures in safety. Even the cavern portions require experienced guides.

Check out the August edition of National Geographic Magazine for more great facts and pictures.

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Captain Bill's Inland Blue Hole

Small Hope Bay Lodge took 15 guests and two car loads 20 minutes down the road and into the inland Andros to visit Captain Bill’s Fresh water inland Blue Hole.
Blue Holes are submarine cave systems. Their name is derived from the fact that when viewed from the air, they often have a deep blue color--deeper and bluer than the waters that surround them. To understand their formation, one needs to go back to the beginning of the Bahama Islands themselves, back over 150 million years ago when marine sediments began to accumulate in the warm shallow seas of the tropical Atlantic. (The origins of the name Bahamas is from the Spanish words Baja Mar, meaning shallow sea). It was during this time that early corals began to colonize along the banks of sediment. These tiny corals slowly grew to form a fringing reef, which eventually solidified into limestone barriers, which in turn acted as retaining walls, trapping the sediments. Andros Island has over 350 known inland and ocean blue holes.
You can take the plunge from 15 feet off the dock to cannonball into the freshwater, or walk down the dock and slip right in. Many of the guests enjoyed their afternoon jumping, swimming and keeping their eyes peeled for the legendary Lusca. The Lusca is a old myth of a half-octopus half-shark monster that lives in the Blue Hole, this kept many of the children on the island from diving too deep into the water, so their parents could keep an eye on them! Although no Lusca was spotted the guests enjoyed their afternoon of swimming, and their cannonball competition where eleven-year-old Isabella beat everyone with her record of 46 cannonballs off the dock!
Afterwards everyone came back to Small Hope to watch a slideshow of pictures from their afternoon adventure! Follow this link to watch some cannonball action, the reaction and the excitement from Captain Bill’s Blue Hole. Pin It Now!